28 Weeks Later

The nature of seeing is at the bedrock of our human experience, and is key to unlocking the emotions simmering just beneath the surface of 28 Weeks Later. The decade’s heir to the throne of Romero, Juan Carlos Frenadillo’s brilliantly staged savagery comes equipped with disarming fairy-tale overtones, his generous, intelligent storytelling drunk on equal parts love and hope, destruction and chaos. Deliberately shouting out to America’s War on Terror was a timely choice with genuine political insight, but the real theme here is the timelessness of our human frailties; the sins of our fathers determine our struggles of today, and sometimes, a loving mother’s instincts are the worst thing in the world. The breakneck opening sequence sets a tone of apocalyptic doom, and though the dispatching of the undead en masse has rarely been topped (see the film’s bodacious helicopter sequence, the original Dawn of the Dead’s infamous decapitation scene writ large), it’s the introspective moments—like a James Wolfe statue, seemingly weeping for senseless loss of life—that lend resonance to this raging sequel. Humanick

14

Let the Right One In

Not unlike Matt Reeves’s American remake, Tomas Alfredson’s Let the Right One In is, in color and emotion, something almost unbearably blue. When Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant), a 12-year-old outcast perpetually bullied at school, meets Eli (Lina Leandersson), the mysterious new girl at his apartment complex, one child’s painful coming of age is conflated with another’s insatiable bloodlust. The film treats adolescence, even a vampire’s arrested own, as a prolonged horror—life’s most vicious and unforgiving set piece. This study of human loneliness and the prickly crawlspace between adolescence and adulthood is also an unexpectedly poignant queering of the horror genre. Do not avert your eyes from Alfredson’s gorgeously, meaningfully aestheticized vision, though you may want to cover your neck. Gonzalez

13

The House of the Devil

Though The House of the Devil is so steeped in nostalgia for the genre films of yore that it seems to belong far more to the ’80s than to the present day, it nevertheless carved a perfect niche for itself in late-aughts cinema. Relative newcomer Ti West deals in nail-biting suspense and dread, making him a welcome outlier among his more gore-obsessed contemporaries: Each time West punctuates one of the film’s long periods of placidity and unease via an abrupt act of violence, the moment feels earned, even necessary, rather than tacked on. It’s a film that both relies on and rewards the viewer’s imagination to fill in the blanks of its slow-going narrative, a refreshing change of pace from the mindless horror fodder it surpasses with such ease and gravitas. Nordine

12

Bug

Bug, an intense little chamber play of blossoming madness, allowed William Friedkin to put his characteristic screws to both his characters and his audience while nearly achieving a poignancy that only heightens the horror. Your enjoyment of the film may depend on whether or not you buy how quickly Ashley Judd succumbs to paranoia and insanity. I didn’t buy it, but the film’s relentlessness overcomes the occasionally stagy absurdity. In one of his first key roles, Michael Shannon looks a little like Anthony Michael Hall at his most hungover, but his presence and surprisingly soft voice throws you off balance, and Friedkin masterfully exploits that emotional uncertainty, paving the way for an ending that’s abrupt, unforgiving, and the perfect capper for a very over the top last third. Bug has been referred to as a thriller or a horror story, but it’s really a perverse romance—a heightened, demented parable of losing yourself to someone. Bowen

11

War of the Worlds

The apex of what critic Matthew Wilder astutely pinned as the summery popcorn movies finally wrestled with the aftermath of 9/11 (along with Land of the Dead and Red Eye), Steven Spielberg’s relentless update of H.G. Wells’s creaky, pre-Cold War property often feels like a regression into the cheap safety of a zero-relativity “Us vs. Them” mentality. Which is exactly why it still seems like the most upsetting mass entertainment in Spielberg’s entire career. Stuffed with all the brutally efficient mayhem of Jaws, Poltergeist, Gremlins, and Jurassic Park put together, War of the Worlds is a mirror held up against the nation’s sense of festering shock. But for all the sympathetic shots of people running for their lives with grimaces of terror on their faces, you can’t help but wonder if Spielberg’s ultimate disaster movie isn’t also smuggling in criticism about the nature of our worst collective fears. Henderson

Slant is reaching more readers than ever before, but advertising revenue across the Internet is falling fast, hitting independently owned and operated publications like ours the hardest. We’ve watched many of our fellow media sites fall by the way side in recent years, but we’re determined to stick around.

We’ve never asked our readers for financial support before, and we’re committed to keeping our content free and accessible—meaning no paywalls or subscription fees. If you like what we do, however, please consider becoming a Slant patron.

I've gotten much out of this list, so thank you. I agree rabidly with the top choice, and I would have nestled 'Wolf Creek' just beneath it. I wonder if you considered 'Funny Games' (the US remake, I guess it would hafta be), and I reckon someone could make a pretty solid case for Dumont's 'Twentynine Palms' being in the top ten--was ever a horror film quite so devoid of catharsis?

Posted by trifurcate on 2013-03-20 14:02:21

Cremildo, thanks, I didn't pay attention.

Of this list WOLF CREEK freaked me out like no other film ever has. It is so creepy and disturbing--and good--everyone should see it.

Posted by Anonymous on 2012-11-30 18:20:48

No noxious sexual baggage in 'Wolf Creek', Ed? How would you categorise lines like "I'll cut your t**s off" and "I always have to wear a rubber with you foreign c***s; I never know where you've been"...? Or is this excluded from being actual sexual baggage simply because rape is never actually depicted?

Posted by FattTony on 2012-11-02 05:26:54

Eisenhower, that film is from the sixties. This list pertains to the AUGHTS.

Posted by Anonymous on 2012-10-29 07:55:54

Rosemary's Baby?

Posted by Anonymous on 2012-04-01 12:12:44

Was Twentynine Palms in contention?

Posted by mwic on 2012-02-08 09:32:48

Kind of an odd list. Halloween II above The House of the Devil and Let the Right One In? Strange. Also no [REC]?? Audition is from the 90s too. The Woman should have got some consideration also.

I think this is a better list...http://edinburghhorrorclub.blogspot.com/2012/01/horror - club - top - 5 - post - 2000 - horror.html

Posted by Anonymous on 2012-02-02 08:18:54

Pulse was amazing. Flawless. I assume, though, that you're talking about the Japanese original and not the half - assed American remake.

Posted by denvercash77 on 2011-12-11 18:22:42

Some good ones on there, but Halloween II?!? I didn't like it much, and I'm a fan of the franchise (Even the not - so - good movies). As stated, it wasn't pretty to look at - too much violence, and unnecessary at that.

Posted by JRHG1 on 2011-12-11 15:50:17

I refuse to believe Zombie's Halloween II deserves a place, whilst [REC] is not even mentioned in passing sentence. I also found 28 Weeks Later only very clumsily executed the political messages it attempted to convey.

If you are seemingly pushing the genre boundaries, perhaps Pan's Labyrinth could be considered.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-11-21 19:10:37

I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to have discovered people who share my passion for Zombie's HALLOWEEN II. I'd almost begun to feel like I was crazy for loving it as I do. Thanks, Slant Magazine. There seems to be so much reductive thinking out there among Horror Film fans as to what the Horror Film "is" and what it can do. It's very frustrating. There are no good reasons for films like INLAND EMPIRE not to be on this list but for that type of thinking.

Posted by ManSuave on 2011-11-13 21:03:58

The creatures in "The Mist" weren't genetically mutated. The military opened a portal to another dimension from which all these creatures spilled.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-11-09 18:36:12

Has anyone seen the adaptation of the Jack Ketchum story, The Lost (2006)?

It is produced by May/The Woman's Lucky McKee. It is directed by Chris Sivertson, the same guy who did I Know Who Killed Me, but it's'a far superior balance of blunt horror and dark humor. Check it out.

It also has a great performance by the then - newcomer Marc Senter.

Posted by ngs091 on 2011-11-07 20:02:06

U.S. release dates, kaiboy. You\'re actually the third person to notice and post about it. Ctrl + F...

Posted by Jesse Cataldo on 2011-11-06 06:30:45

I can't believe no one has yet noticed that "Audition" is from 1999 and therefore shouldn't be eligible for this list. Also I don't really consider "A History Of Violence" to be a horror film, or even really a thriller, even though it is by Cronenberg,it's a drama. One film which is little seen and I have never seen on anybody's list anywhere is "Joshua" from 2007 I think. Very creepy.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-11-05 22:52:39

You have no idea how happy it makes me to see 'Suicide Club' on this list, it's good time that Sion Sono got the recognition he deserves on this site. 'Strange Circus' is even better.

Posted by JoshuaJohn1993 on 2011-11-02 16:28:46

Agree with most everything except for "Visitor Q" which is more like "Pink Flamingos" than any horror film. Laughed all the way through it, as Miike piles on offense after offense. "Gozu" is more horrific and Lynchian. "Audition"? Well, after all the build - up I found it wonderful and Hitchcockian, but not very horrific.

BUT!!! Kudos to whoever chose "Pulse" as number one. Yes, yes, and yes. No other film has succeeded in showing the soulessness of modern society as this film. Kiss yr pointy little head.

Posted by tedmills on 2011-11-02 00:23:08

I've always felt Miike's "Box" to be one of the more lyrical and poetic examples of horror out there. This short film seems largely unrecognized. Of course, the fact that it is a short film probably disqualifies it from most lists anyway, unless someone were to nominate Three Extremes in its entirety, which is doubtful given that the other two short films in the collection pare in comparison to Miike's.

Speaking of boxes, I was hoping that Kelly's "The Box" would somehow slip into the list, considering that the list spans sci - fi and Lynchian style horror.

Posted by Who Watches the... on 2011-11-01 23:22:05

"A Tale of Two Sisters" is great, but "Kairo" deserves the #1 spot.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-11-01 02:18:32

I agree, Rob. I can't see how anybody with a heart could not get emotionally - invested in "Halloween 2" super 8 scene. I won't copy and paste any quotes from my analysis, due to spoilers, but seriously - it's one of the best things a horror film has done recently. As well as a myriad other things surrounding that pivitol moment.

The only film I feel is missing, I can understand missing. Haha. Victor Salva's "Jeepers Creepers" is a supremely personal work of a director expressing personal demons. The way he is a filmmaker creating this horror film with all these sexually perverse images and ideas is incredibly raw in paralleling him with the film's own villain. The homoeroticism, sudden brutality, and other mythology behind that film is unsettling in ways other horror films don't manage with me in the aughts.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-31 10:21:50

Nonetheless...a 96% is pretty freakin' high, and usually when a genre film scores that high on the tomatometer it means something...so I'm curious, where was REC on this list or in the minds of Slant writers?

Posted by Gregory on 2011-10-31 08:55:13

bwross: I read all of your post, and while I voted highly for American Psycho and similarly bemoan its absence, I simply can\'t get past your insinuation that Saw is in any way good, let alone comparable to War of the Worlds, let alone better. And that\'s assuming you\'re talking about the original, which is great compared to any of its faux - intellectual, pretzel narrative, morally absurd sequels.

jbm421: It\'s funny how so many people think there\'s some strict rubric of not only what \"makes\" a horror movie (the cool people are grooving on our interpretation while maintaining their own, and a lot of the movies that people feel were snubbed simply weren\'t up for inclusion), but also of which movies are *absolutely* better or worse than others, as if there\'s some bedrock everyone does or should agree upon. You don\'t shift everything over as if certain things are immovable. You deal with a different opinion or you go on with your day.

Fact: a lot of people dislike and/or hate Halloween II. Fact: most of the people who don\'t dislike it, LOVE it, and yes, this died - in - the - wool Carpenter fan thinks it holds a candle to the original film, two wildly different beasts that only incidentally share the same subject matter. In hindsight, including that equation in my blurb was kind of redundant - we DID vote it #6 for a reason. There\'s nothing intellectual about it, and I rather specifically detailed the film\'s primal, emotional appeal (seriously, if Brad Dourif and that super 8 footage doesn\'t make you well up inside, you\'ve got parts missing).

My cinematic appetite was founded on horror, which I don\'t have to capitalize to recognize as important. That you bring up a Rotten Tomatoes score as part of your argument shows a reliance on popularity or consensus in your perceptions, and perhaps your own sense of validation in the world, and it absolutely robs your words of any credibility to me.

Posted by Jesse Cataldo on 2011-10-31 06:53:03

BWROSS - I love all the films you mention. As far as Asian films go, I simply think Pulse is a better film than A Tale of Two Sisters and Ringu. But Ringu is kind of a moot point since I think it is from 1998. And I'm not saying I necessarily think Pulse is better than Let The Right One In, either, just that Pulse was the foreign horror film, along with The Host and Let the Right One In, that seemed to receive the most end of decade mentions and therefore it didn't strike me as bizarre that it would finish #1 here...for what it's worth. For the record, Martyrs is probably my #1.

I think Halloween 2 is approximately the equivalent of Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me in that one has to let the film shatter one's preconceptions of the franchise in order to give oneself over to it as it chronicles a descent into madness that is actually quite terrifying, powerful and beautiful.

Posted by Gregory on 2011-10-30 23:00:45

Oh boy! Where do I start? I mean, I understand varying opinions and variety but this list is pretty bad. I mean seriously, why is are A History of Violence, War of The Worlds and Inland Empire on a list of Horror films. There are many films which can provoke terror in it's audience that aren't horror films and for that reason alone, these films should not be on here.

Furthermore, while some of your rankings are questionable (I hate Antichrist but understand why others do, but #8?), your inclusion, ranking and write up of Rob Zombie's Halloween 2 is completely indefensible and pretty much robs this list of credibility. I'm all for intellectualizing the reasons for liking a movie but, you seem to be stretching the boundaries of intellect when you praise such a film but when you also insisting that is holds a candle to the original Halloween, you are insulting Horror as a genre. It's even more distressing when it is ranked at #6 yet you don't even include many of the notable (by notable I mean much better) horror films such as Saw, Frailty, & I Saw The Devil. You don't include some brilliant horror comedies like Shawn Of The Dead, Zombieland and Slither. You don't even include one of the very best horror films of the decade, [REC]!

Am I being overly touchy? Maybe. But to back up my point, Halloween 2 on Rotten Tomatoes:20%, [REC] on Rotten Tomatoes: 96%.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-30 16:26:24

@Gregory. I love world cinema in terms of horror (more so than any other genre). I put Pulse in about the same place as Battle Royale. A very cool concept with some interesting stuff going on, but the direction, convention, and overall plot hold it back. In terms of foreign films, I find explicitly better than Pulse: Let the Right One In is an enrapturing tale of adolescence and awkwardness with immaculate cinematography. Eden Lake is perhaps one of the most striking scary films since Halloween and all too relevant in Britain with their knife violence issues. The Descent on paper has all the elements and execution that made Alien a success - claustrophobia, scary monsters, over - sexualized imagery, and that perfect mix of tension of action. A Tale of Two Sisters or Ringu far better encompassed the heart of the Yurei films and delivered a personal stake to it with Ringu holding a far tighter plot and similar technology fears to Pulse. Martyrs, Inside, High Tension all delivered from the New French Extreme on the premise that the conscious can be shocked. Martyrs above the other two proved that there is something hauntingly beautiful in the violence. Cache another film not on the list really explored the cerebral and delicate side of cerebral horror and like Martyrs plagued my mind for several days after viewing. The Devil's Backbone and The Orphanage were chillers with similar pacing and executions. [REC] was a near perfect zombie shaky cam film that delivered an intense sense of doom which seemed almost in contrast to the rest of Spain's chiller films. Its message about the government and disease are as realistically nihilistic as the brilliance of Danny Boyle's 28 Days Later. ........and that is just scratching the surface and not talking about films like The Host, Severance, Dog Soldiers, Thirst, Wolf Creek, Rogue, Dead Snow, The Ordeal, and Troll Hunter that I would rank at or beyond Pulse.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-30 14:25:25

Nimrod Antal's "Vacancy," and Larry Fessenden's "The Last Winter" are both decent horror films. With "Vacancy," the implied violence is very scary as is the smart direction to implicate the viewer for watching. "The Last Winter" is a clever, 'green' monster film. I think that like with his "Wendigo," however, things fall apart in the end.

Also, could the critics individually list their choices, like they do for yearly "Top 10 Lists"? Did anyone have LaBute's "The Wicker Man," for instance?

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-30 13:47:25

Saw shouldn't make this list for the same reasons Friday the 13th shouldn't make a best of all time list - influence and longevity and household name aside, its simply not good enough.

Pulse may not make many peoples' top 25, but I'd chalk that up to it being beyond the understanding/taste of most people. I knew it had to be in the top 3 of Slant's list as it is one of the best horror films in world cinema - if you go back and look over the end of decade polls (film comment, Slant) you'll actually see that it is one of the decade's highest ranked foreign horror films, other than perhaps The Host. Slant's list is ballsy and all the better for it, but I wouldn't consider putting Pulse #1 as bizarre or surprising in the least. Its a great film.

I found Eden Lake to be as tense as anything I've ever seen.

Posted by Gregory on 2011-10-30 09:24:04

Visitor Q, 28 Weeks Later, Suicide Club, The Human Centipede, War of the Worlds, Halloween II, A History of Violence, and Inland Empire. Felt like films that shouldn't be on the list. A History of Violence while a great film doesn't feel like a horror film at all, but more of crime thriller. The rest I could easily replace with similar and better films.

Antichrist is far too high as well, while Let the Right One In is far too low (at least it beats Let Me In). How Them is so high on the list is beyond me as High Tension wasn't even included. But the most bizzare choice is Pulse as #1, which might not even crack many other top 25's.

Notable missing: American Psycho, The Devil's Backbone, The Ring and/or Ringu, Frailty, High Tension, [REC], Zombieland, Shaun of the Dead, A Tale of Two Sisters, Trick 'R Treat, Dawn of the Dead, Pan's Labriynth, 28 Days Later, Shadow of the Vampire, and Saw all felt missing when looking at some rather mediocre inclusions. The disinclusion of the five most signficant horror films for the decade: The Ring, Shaun of the Dead, Saw, 28 Days Later, and Dawn of the Dead - made the entire list suspect. Mainstream or not they are important and in most cases very good. Certainly better than War of the Worlds or Halloween II.

As a fan of the genre I also would be tempted to include more speciality films that are geared towards horror buffs rather than a general audience. The House of the Devil is a great example of this type of film. Others include The Signal (albiet polarizing), Carriers, Eden Lake, May, Ginger Snaps, Dog Soldiers, Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon, Session 9, May, The Last Exorcism, TrollHunter, Monsters, Red,White,&Blue, Funny Games and Thirst.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-30 01:57:58

I also hear good things about newish British director Simon Rumley.

He did one film in the aughts: The Living and the Dead (2006).

He just released another film called Red White & Blue (2010. Both films, like the three above, are disturbing and based in reality.

Also if you peeps like low budget short films, there is another disturbing collection directed by Douglas Buck, called Family Portraits: A Trilogy of America (2003)

Anyway, I loved the list. This is my favorite website. Keep up the good work!

Best, Nick S.

Posted by ngs091 on 2011-10-29 23:51:35

Has anyone seen Eden Lake (2008)?

It surely is the most disturbing horror film of the aughts. Maybe more so than Martyrs, as it is a film grounded in reality and it comments on youth violence in Britain.

See it for sure. The director, James Watson, is mightily talented and his remake of The Woman in Black for Hammer films (famous revived studio that also just did Let Me In,) comes out in January 2012. Eden Lake also stars the very talented Michael Fassbender

Posted by ngs091 on 2011-10-29 23:32:18

This doesnt seem to be a list of the Scariest movies of the OO\'s; more like a list of the \"artsy movies most critics THINK are the best horror movies of the OOs\". History of Violence and War of the Worlds are not only overrated, they are not scary in the least. Wolf Creek was low budget sadistic crap of the torture porn variety. The Descent is always a critics favorite even though it made no sense at all and had glaring flaws. Im glad to see Drag Me to Hell, althought the Orphanage should be much higher....and using the weak criteria here, PANS LABYRINTH should be on it. The American remakes of THE RING and PULSE are scarier and more superior to their foreign originals. Also, why critics continue to view 28 WEEKS LATER as superior to the groundbreaking original 28 DAYS LATER is beyond me. The fact that neither THE RING or SESSION 9 or 28 DAYS LATER appears here automatically casts doubt on this list. Heck, even 30 DAYS OF NIGHT is more intense and scary than half the films here.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-29 17:35:59

The list is really good. Thank you for the posting. It's particularly nice for inclusion of several from the Tartan 'Asian Extreme.' In addition to the list, Ji - Woon's "A Tale of Two Sisters" should be added. It's effectively creepy and disturbing without bloodletting. And, considering how the French Exteme appears with "Martyrs" and "Inside," Marina De Van's unnoticed "In My Skin" and Xavier Gens' "Frontiere(s)" should be discused.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-29 13:33:06

@eggmember, I personally couldn\'t care less than I already do about how mainstream a film is or not. There are at least a dozen mainstream titles represented here, based on their having had wide releases and/or achieving major notoriety in the zeitgeist. I didn\'t vote for Paranormal Activity because I don\'t think it\'s very good, although I understand why many have found it terrifying.

You also can\'t seriously call Halloween II \"just another remake.\" Regardless of whether you love it or hate it, it\'s even less of a remake of the 1981 Halloween II than Steven Spielberg\'s War of the Worlds is of the 1953 film. Come to think of it, both of those are pretty mainstream...

Posted by Jesse Cataldo on 2011-10-29 09:47:11

There are a lot of great choices on this list but I find it funny that you've excluded the two films that actually scared me. The Ring is a classic in so many ways and deserves a spot more than another remake like Halloween 2. And how can you exclude Paranormal Activity, the only film that had me up all night after seeing it. I can only imagine that its success makes it too mainstream for your article which is a shame because it is easily one of the best horror films I've ever seen. The fact that you have an inferior film like 28 Weeks Later on here instead makes me gag more than when I watched Human Centipede.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-29 03:21:48

Visitor Q and A History of Violence are not horror movies. Shock value and violence are not in - of - themselves criteria of the horror genre.

Posted by Jazzman on 2011-10-29 02:22:31

P.S. I forgot about Session 9, as well. Great movie!

Also, Audition is 1999 technically, but according to IMDB.com it did debut in the USA in the aughts (if that is what the list is going by.)

Posted by ngs091 on 2011-10-28 19:36:33

Great choices overall, and a couple I'll be tracking down this weekend.

Glad to see that Martyrs and Inside were so high on the list, although I'd have flipped their rankings; in fact, Martyrs would be in my number - one spot, while Pulse would be sent packing; it's my least favorite Kurosawa film by far (too teeny - bopper), but I guess Cure is a year too old.

I also agree with Zane Grant that The Host and Dogtooth deserved to make the cut, and I'd add the original Paranormal Activity, which surprised me with its humor and depth (Paramount's crap ending notwithstanding); Pontypool, cheap as it is and despite a spotty supporting performance; and maybe The Signal and Monsters.

Nice work, Slant, even if I'll never, ever understand what people see in Halloween II.

Posted by Mark Holcomb on 2011-10-28 18:45:50

A SERBIAN FILM is garbage, although it may deserve a mention as being symptomatic of horror failure - perishable shock tactics with the full force of braindead, but very self - serious, political allegory behind them.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-28 13:19:39

Eric, 'A Serbian Film' really isn't SO bad...just keep a Danish midget armed with a melon - baller around to scoop out your eyes when it gets too intense.

Works every time.

;)

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-28 11:56:32

I'd have to second A Serbian Film for inclusion, though I don't necessarily know if its better than any of the films that made the cut. Although, I've never really thought of A History of Violence as a horror film.

Posted by Gregory on 2011-10-28 09:56:58

Well done, film squad. I\'ll definitely be raiding Blockbuster for some of these movies this Halloween.

Curious to know if any contributors nominated Session 9 or The Machinist - I don\'t think either film is perfect, but I can\'t think of any better psychological horror films made in the US during this time period.

Posted by Nate Adams on 2011-10-28 07:46:05

Bluto, I included SERBIAN FILM in the list of arty/bloody movies with the original pitch, but I personally haven\'t been able to bring myself to watch it yet. Sort of feel like I might turn into the lead from John Carpenter\'s CIGARETTE BURNS if I do.

Posted by Michael Murray on 2011-10-28 07:29:42

Good choice for #1, Pulse has very strange and sad atmosphere and that slow - mo ghost scene was scary as hell. I was thinking that Lynch's Mirror Father Mirror will win since you all love that crazy clown so much. Korean Tale of Two Sisters should be here, it has no layers but some really tense scenes.

Posted by flapy on 2011-10-28 04:54:36

Any horror film list that doesn\'t include the very disturbing \'A Serbian Film\' should be automatically viewed as grievously flawed.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-28 02:47:09

I agree with Thirst. The list has a notable absence of Korean Horror, which made up the better end of the decade.

Fessenden produced House of the Devil, so he's there in a way.

I would have liked to have seen the following given their due:

'The Host', '28 Days Later', any of Christopher Smith's films, 'Dogtooth', and 'Chawz'. I go into detail of why I think these fit the war on terror over on my blog.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-27 18:28:36

Rich - I was more just commenting in general. I understand you just didn't "feel" it as I did and then questioned the artistry, and then didn't find a surplus of ideas to fall back on.

But the victim was deserving...after what she did! jk jk But honestly, they both seemed like victims to me, and I felt some real sympathy toward both protagonist and antagonist in Inside. But mostly I just felt really creeped out and on edge.

You're spot - on about Martyrs, which shook me like no other, which is why I'm curious how the voting on individual ballots went.

Posted by Gregory on 2011-10-27 11:19:35

I was unclear. I didn't mean to suggest that "Inside" was lousy strictly because it lacked subtext or social commentary. What I meant to say was without intelligent ideas, or without some kind of meaningful underpinning, in the case of this film, you're mostly left with slipshod artistry.

There's some suspense, yes. Initially. Eventually it gives way to bloodletting. An excess of bloodletting. Which quickly grows tiresome...and then absurd.

Admittedly it's been awhile since I've seen the film. But I seem to remember some pretty stunning images at the beginning and some pretty lazy shot composition by the end. It was discontinuous. David Bordwell, are you out there anywhere? Help me out.

And hopefully without revealing too much to those who haven't seen the film, the whole thing culminates with a final bloody act that comes across as nothing more than a money shot for the audience at the expense of an undeserving victim. What was the meaning of this?

Compare to the superior "Martyrs" - a more disturbing film, but one which denies the audience revelment in the brutality. There's some real sympathy at the core of that film. And some ideas.

"Inside" was like, 'Here's a bunch of awful violence, guys. Hope you enjoy it. The end.'

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-26 18:57:21

@ lotus plaza

Well, of course the time frame is recent; the aughts are not the 80's, after all.

I'm not sure which of Argento's four (sub - par) films from the last decade you believe to be worthy of inclusion?

Posted by Quirky- on 2011-10-26 18:29:19

Yeah, crazy omission, for a Slant list anyway, Trouble Every Day.

Also, I suspect Amer was somewhere around #26 most likely?

Always funny to me how even the "comments" section on Slant is filled with talk of subtext and social commentary. Its a good thing of course, but sometimes you just gotta feel a film, especially in the horror genre. Plus, you can find subtext anywhere you look if you look long enough. Point being, Inside is a great horror film even if you can't find subtext. I found plenty, but didn't champion the film on the basis of it anyway. Rather, I liked the dreamlike atmosphere and nail - biting suspense in addition to the gore.

While on the subject, I imagine on the individual ballots that Inside finished on more ballots, but that Martyrs finished higher on the lists of those who included it?

A great list. Always like to see Zombie get his due; even as I remain on the fence about him, I am drawn to and fascinated by his work.

Posted by Gregory on 2011-10-26 17:39:32

Boy, there are a lot of films on here that I wouldn't really classify as "horror". I guess it comes down to genre discussion, which is pretty tedious.

Maybe I'd like to see your guys' take on which of the more typically "horrorish" of the aught's films were the best.

I do really like your inclusions of some films that have sort of fallen by the wayside, such as War of the Worlds and The Mist.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-26 15:18:39

I have to add that I'm a little perplexed at the inclusion (and high ranking!) of "Inside." I never bought the hype on this one. Full of logical inconsistencies, uneven formalism, indefensibly gleeful sadism, and even occasional unintentional laughs, the film is a total mess. If there is any subtext or social commentary in the whole affair, it is buried pretty deep. While there is an undeniable visceral aspect to much of the bloodshed and some decent suspense, the violence seems to exist for its own sake. I think its a lousy piece of art.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-26 07:47:58

No Trouble Every Day? Really?

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-26 02:55:43

Excellent list!

Noting the obvious omission of Dario \"giallo\" Argento\'s oeuvre makes me wonder if this list is centered around a more recent time frame? And why so? Also in my humble opinion, Ti West\'s House of the devil deserves better than #13

Proceeding to watch Kiyoshi\'s Pulse.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-26 00:56:35

Sad not to see Ichi the Killer, in my opinion it\'s up there with Antichrist and Wolf Creek as one of the best horror films of the aughts.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-25 23:34:14

Well, great list. Really appreciated that you included many foreign languages horror, especially those from Japan and France. Many of my favorite are in there. But I have some concerns:

- Audition was released in 1999, thus disqualified.

- Some of them are not technically Horror. Imo Horror movies are movies that their intend (main purpose) is to scare the audience. In that sense Let the Right One In and Let Me In are DRAMA movies with HORROR, COMING OF AGE, and somewhat ROMANTIC elements. The same goes for AntiChrist, which is more of PSYCHOLOGY DRAMA more than HORROR. Then if films contain Horror - element are qualify, Shaun of the Dead should be on the list.

- And yes, some from these: The Others, The Ring, Session 9, The Tale of 2 Sisters, [REC]. Paranormal Activity, ZombieLand should be on the list.

- And for Saw (which is not on this list); I know it\'s not a very good movie (in truth, bad), but it\'s undeniably influential (not in the good way, but it helps create a whole TORTURE PORN genre in the last half of decade). Sometimes when putting list of movies like this one I don\'t know if it should be included on the list or not

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-25 21:29:02

It\'s a really great list though. But you guys already know that.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-25 17:45:50

Most surprising snub of the list: Trouble Every Day.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-25 17:39:24

Seeing \"Halloween II\" on here makes me EXCEPTIONALLY happy. One of the aughts\' best horror films, for sure. And of course, I\'m speaking in terms of the Director\'s Cut...I wrote a lengthy analysis of the film that has changed many views on the film from negative to positive:

I have a soft spot for Hostel and Camp Fever. I think Roth's films have a dialectic beyond the frat - boy persona that is often attributed to him.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-25 10:44:02

Also, it should be noted that, for at least two of the people who voted for it, Halloween II\'s place on this list is a reflection of the Director\'s Cut, as I think most everyone here and elsewhere agrees that it stands head and shoulders above the theatrical. Even had Zombie not made his preferred changes, which are significant, it would still have some ardent fans, Nathan Lee being a prime example.

Posted by Jesse Cataldo on 2011-10-25 09:33:34

Dersu, I basically found the movie to be much too tame for the kind of thrills it was aiming for, and the way it tread over the cliches of the genre struck me as particularly stale. And this is a relative point, but I\'m likely to have serious reservations about any movie made after 2002 that expects me to believe Anna Paquin\'s character could possibly be a virgin. I\'m sure someone could pull it off if they really wanted to, but Trick \'r Treat sure didn\'t.

Posted by Jesse Cataldo on 2011-10-25 08:42:23

Interesting to see Zombie\'s Halloween II make the list. Horror, much like action, movies tend to be acts of sadism on the viewer\'s part. Even bloodless horror movies are like this, because they require the audience to get some kind of thrill and/or entertainment value out of watching people get terrorized/killed/mutilated/you - name - it. Horror sequels, in many ways, often feel like, \"Remember all that sick shit that happened to character XYZ in that movie? Well, now it\'s gonna happen to them all over again!\" And it\'s often treated so trivially. What I like about Zombie\'s Halloween sequel is that it does a bit more than just put Laurie Strode in danger again. It\'s probably the first horror sequel that I know of that actually puts some real thought into the long - lasting psychological trauma that someone would be inflicted with if this ever happened to them.

I also like how it made slasher clichés feel new again by making us (well, me, anyway) actually care about certain characters before killing them off. Yes, there were more than a few scenes of \"watch this asshole get what\'s coming to them,\" but I\'m thinking specifically about the scene where a couple of teenagers go to the back of a car to have sex, only to turn the stereotypes on their ears by making the girl more sexually aggressive and the guy more nervous, but in a fun way. They seemed halfway real and likable, which is often the last thing slasher movies allow, making their deaths at Michael\'s hands seem tragic, rather than carnographic.

I don\'t understand the love for The Descent. The mountain of bones leading to a symbolic birth scene at the end was beautiful to look at, though I admittedly didn\'t get the point. More importantly, though, I didn\'t find the movie very scary, as it was mostly a lather, rinse, repeat cycle of \"something jumps out of the shadows, something loud happens, something bloody happens,\" and this is done over and over and over to the point where I found it more emotionally deadening than frightening and thrilling.

I also have a question for Rob Humanick that I might as well ask now. Some Halloweens ago I saw Trick \'r Treat and enjoyed it, only to find it on your worst of the year list at the time. I unfortunately can\'t intellectually defend the movie, I only remember it \"working\" for me at the time. I was wondering if you\'d be willing to explain why you disliked it so much. That\'s why I like this website, the reviews challenge me.

Good list, but the addition of Chan - wook Park's "Thirst" would've made it even better.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-24 19:20:07

Nice list. Please consider adding the dates next to the film titles?

I admit I was disappointed not to see The Ring. It touched on a swarm of cultural anxieties (reproduction, technology, media) like a finger poking a bruise. I saw it in a packed theater in a college town, and I've never felt a more palpable wave of dread in my life than during the last three seconds of that film. People were literally gasping for breath.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-24 18:56:34

Pretty good list in that it covers a wide array of genre variations and origin. The majority of the films would also be on my own list, albeit with possibly different rankings. Some potential omissions (and this comes down to taste) are Shadow of the Vampire, The Ring, The Hills Have Eyes (yes, the remake), [REC], The Others, Trick R' Treat, The Ruins, Grace.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-24 18:34:09

How so, Lycurgus? Other than some mainstream titles that might be more recognizable (give us your oversights/blind spots, favorites, etc...discuss), this strikes me as pretty much bereft of major gaps. Of course, I\'m in a biased position. But it\'s my opinion anyway.

Posted by Jesse Cataldo on 2011-10-24 18:18:48

Since there are a handful of thrillers on your list, I'd submit Hong - jin Na's CHASER (2008). Great film.

Posted by haggie on 2011-10-24 18:11:02

This list looks like it was cobbled together by people who either don\'t A) Watch horror movies, or B) Know what a horror film really is.

Also, Tom Six is Dutch, not British.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-24 11:42:04

Mmmmmm. Wonton relish. Yum.

Posted by Anonymous on 2011-10-24 11:35:06

You guys are all over the place, such a mess. But I guess that's why I love this website, there is always such a variety in these lists.